Specimen 231

Chapter 3

For the next few days, as measured by the Terran calendar, Janus and Nalatine coexist without incident. After this initial period of good behavior, she is given permission to leave her quarters unaccompanied and explore the ship at her discretion. The obedience chip that Janus had installed functions also as a tracker, and so he knows at all times where she is.

Either due to the threat of pain or her innate drive to obey, Nalatine shows no more inclination towards violence. There are limits to her technical capability – she has not been trained to code, nor has she been trained in skilled electrical maintenance – but she is willing to assist with physical repairs, crawling up into tight spaces to apply adhesive patches to leaking pipes, tighten fixtures, and so on. While this isn't the reason Janus had detanked her, he finds that having an assistant is useful.

After one of these maintenance forays, Nalatine crawls back out of the ceiling grate, using her dewclaws to hang upside down as she moves the entry panel back in place. Janus observes as she drops back down to the floor, landing on all fours before pushing up to her feet again. "The repair is finished, Janus. What other tasks are there to do?"

For a moment, the masked man turns his head slightly to the side, his fingers moving fast over the keypad on his wrist. So far as Nalatine can imagine, he is seeing information within the faceplate of his helmet. Not once has he taken it off while she has been in his presence. "There are no more tasks for today" he finally says, turning the mask back towards her.

She nods, swiping away some of the gray dust that's settled on her skin. "Very well. I am going to bathe, then eat."

"I will join you."

She tenses, her orange eyes looking directly at his mask, before he himself stiffens, quickly saying "No, not like that. I only wish to join you for your meal."

Nalatine's tail lashes in agitation, her lips forming a line. "As you wish. Shall I meet you in the cafeteria?"

"Yes. I will await you there."

The two part ways, and Nalatine returns to her quarters, feeling unsettled. The shower helps to soothe her nerves, but her flesh is still sensitive and feels warmer to her fingers than usual. While examining herself, her fingertips slide over her forearm, where several small gray and white speckles are beginning to appear on her black skin, no larger than freckles.

"No... no no no" she hisses nervously, and when she checks her other arm she notices the same spots. Desperately she tries to rub away the speckles with water, hoping that they are flecks of dust, but of course they are not. Her fingers shakily scrub at her skin, her muscles more substantial due to proper activity and nutrition over the last few days. With a groan of frustration, she presses her forehead to the brushed steel wall of the shower unit, sliding her fingertips down her fit body thoughtlessly.

Her touch glides over the slender curves of her waist and hips, feeling the slight channels of her cut musculature beneath her smooth, utterly black skin. Slowly her eyes close, the sensation of her own caress making her breathe a little heavier, her heart beating harder. Nalatine's mouth opens gently, her teeth just visible, the points of her fangs wet as water sluices down her nose and over her full, tingling lips to then drip down her chin to the drain at her feet. The warm water trickles over her tongue, and every so often she has to spit it out, the sensation making her spine dip and tail lift in reflex, and just then her touch slides down over her hairless sex, hidden between her thighs. The electric jolt at the moment when her fingers touch her genitals makes her gasp, her tail lashing and back arching sharply as she grits her teeth.

Immediately she pulls her hand away and finishes her shower, toweling off and paying special care not to rub too hard between her thighs. Since her detanking she has gone without clothing, but now she elects to wear a pair of baggy black workman's pants and a snug neoprene shirt in black, with sleeves long enough to reach down to the dewclaws on her wrists.